Depending on whom you talk to, middleweight Rousimar Palhares was either cheated out of UFC 111’s “Submission of the Night” for his textbook heel-hook victory over Tomasz Drwal or should be thankful that he still has a job after cranking the move for what seemed like far too long.

But Palhares, who apologized in the cage immediately after the fight-ending submission, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that he never enters a fight with the intention of injuring a foe.

Instead, his Brazilian Top Team camp teaches to hold on to the move until instructed by the referee to let go – perhaps an understandable position if you consider the long history of the camp in the UFC.

“I had no intention to hurt Tomasz,” Palhares told MMAjunkie.com through his interpreter and manager, Alex Davis. “I never have; I am not like that.

“Unfortunately, there have been cases in the past where guys have tapped and then said they hadn’t tapped. This happened in a match in the UFC between my trainer, Murilo Bustamante, and Matt Lindland. Our attitude is to hold the position until the ref interrupts to avoid this happening to us again.”

In May 2002, Bustamante, a co-founder of Brazilian Top Team, successfully defended the UFC’s middleweight title against Lindland with a third-round submission victory at UFC 37. However, the bout was marred by one of the biggest gaffes of famed official “Big” John McCarthy’s career when the fight was waved off due to an apparent Lindland tap before the referee elected to restart the action.

It’s a fight-tested lesson that shapes the strategies of Brazilian Top Team’s fighters, and Palhares believes the 90-day suspension issued by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board was unjust.

“I did not think the suspension was fair,” Palhares said. “I did not have any intent of hurting Drwal. It was in the heat of battle, and I wanted to make sure I did not lose the position.

“I was just waiting for the ref to interrupt the match.”

Some have argued that with a lock as dangerous as a heel hook, Palhares may have torqued the maneuver unnecessarily hard. But Palhares, a leg-lock master who had difficulty holding on to Dan Henderson’s limbs in their UFC 88 matchup, said it was necessary to explode into the submission to ensure that he would secure the win.

“I just wanted to make 100 percent sure I had it,” Palhares said. “I have been through similar situations where I have lost positions due to oil and Vaseline that my opponents had applied to their legs.”

For his part, Davis believes that perhaps his client should have released the hold a moment or two sooner. But Davis, a former top grappler himself, said that the intensity of MMA competition makes Palhares’ actions understandable.

“Rousimar is a humble, simple guy,” Davis said. “There’s not an ounce of maliciousness in him. That was the first minute of the fight, the adrenaline was high, he got the position, and wanted to make sure he finished. Maybe he held on a tad longer than he needed to, but, like I said, that’s an intense moment. This is MMA – the most intense form of fighting on the planet, and the other guy wants to punch your face in. I think the referee was just a little too far away.

“In MMA, things like this happen. Sometimes it has nothing to do with bad intentions, it’s just heat of the moment. I feel sorry for Drwal, and although I haven’t spoken to Rousimar or Murilo, I am sure that the first thing that Rousimar did was look Drwal up and apologize.”

While the UFC was unlikely to utilize Palhares in the next 90 days anyway, the suspension from the NJSACB certainly was intended to send a message. Palhares and his camp believe the warning was hardly necessary, and they insist the grappling ace will be back in the cage again soon.

“Rousimar is freakish strong, and he had that position locked in,” Davis said. “To make Rousimar into a dirty fighter over this is totally unfair; he is not.

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